


A Formula for Hope

by Greentreefrog



Series: Return to Normandie [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alien Adrien, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Artificial Intelligence, Commander Marinette, F/M, Mass Effect AU, Multi, Pilot Nino, Space Magic, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 00:22:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14630121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greentreefrog/pseuds/Greentreefrog
Summary: Commander Marinette Dupain-Cheng of the Alliance Military once dreamed of touching the stars and befriending those that lived on them.Uncovering the fact that her galaxy was trapped in an endless cycle of destruction was never part of that dream, but never let it be said that Marinette couldn't face every challenge head-on. At least she has a good crew behind her, human and alien alike.Now if she could just talk like a normal person around her latest recruit, that'd begreat.





	A Formula for Hope

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclaimer: I haven't written fic in close to five years, so this will be an adventure for me just as much as it is for you. This is a Mass Effect fusion: those familiar with the Mass Effect series will recognise a lot of the themes and plot, though I won't be ripping from the games word-for-word. 
> 
> Yes, Adrien is an alien. Specifically, a Turian. I'm putting this out there now so you can get out now if you don't like that idea rather than telling me angrily in a review why you think I'm wrong when the two finally meet. 
> 
> Don't worry if you haven't played the Mass Effect games: I'm going to try my hardest to explain this massive, beautiful universe as I go so this story can make sense to anyone. My friend who helps edit this doesn't know a thing about the series, so I'm using her as my guinea pig. Don't be afraid to shoot me a comment though if you're confused or you think I could explain something a bit better. After all, I have been playing the games for over ten years - its really hard for me to tell what's obvious to anyone and what's niche.

Marinette is six when she first sneaks onto the observation deck.

Stars fly past quicker than her young eyes can track as the SSV Tianjin makes its way between Alliance outposts at Faster-than-Light speeds. Her face is practically pressed to the glass display, her hands resting on the viewing window as if trying to push through and catch the lights as they pass. Marinette watches in wonder as the ship passes through the boundaries of a small nebula. The darkness of the space morphs into so many bright colors, almost indistinguishable from one another.

“And what do you think _you’re_ doing, mon petite Coccinelle?” a smooth voice calls as the familiar sound of an automatic door disturbs the reverent silence.  

The child gasps as she recognises the figure.

“ _Maman!”_ she exclaims.

Marinette’s vigil is abandoned as she races to greet the woman, flinging her small frame into her mother’s waiting arms. Lieutenant Sabine Cheng is a formidable asset to the Alliance Military, though it matters little to the six-year-old as she uses the battle-forged muscles of her mother as footholds and supports on her way up her mother’s body. She scales the woman until she can comfortably rest on her shoulders. Sabine accepts her weight easily and straightens up, moving to sit on one of the nearby lounges positioned in front of the viewing windows.

“You didn’t answer my question, Marinette,” says Sabine. She adjusts herself and her daughter so she can grasp the child’s legs in her hands.

“ _Well_ ,” starts Marinette, and Sabine knows she’s in for a tale. “I was helping Papa with dinner in the mess hall when Ramieré started arguing with Papa about something so I decided to draw some but then I wanted to draw something other than clothes or people because I _always_ draw clothes and people, but I can’t draw animals very good so I decided to draw aliens instead and then I remembered that there’s _lots_ of aliens and I couldn’t pick so – “

“Last I checked, the Tianjin’s life support systems were in excellent condition, so you needn’t fear breathing once in a while,” interrupts Sabine, and chuckles when she imagines (correctly) the face her daughter is pulling.

It’s always the same when someone stops her rambling: an adorable cross between confusion and annoyance, brows furrowed, nose scrunched, and her mouth still opening and closing.  

“Now,” says Sabine, “slowly, and remembering to breathe.”

Marinette scowls, shifting her legs until her mother lets go of them before sliding down her back, moving around so she can sit on her lap.

“I wanted to see the stars, maman. There are so many!” says Marinette.

Sabine hums her agreement, and says no more, happy to let her daughter tell her about her day. The two sit there for some time, the child sharing the random thoughts and adventures that made up her day while her mother idly plays with her hair. Neither looks at one another, their gazes fixed on the worlds passing them by outside the hull of the ship. Marinette eventually exhausts her extensive list of significant events, and the two sit in silence, not bothered by the constant hum of the ship around them.

Minutes stretch as more and more stars fly by. The SSV Tianjin’s flight through space is smooth and steady.

The relative silence of the room is finally broken after roughly ten minutes.

“Maman?”

Sabine hums to acknowledge Marinette.

“How many stars are there?” asks Marinette

The mother chuckles. “You do not ask easy questions. The simple answer? Trillions. However, for all we know, the universe could stretch indefinitely beyond our own small galaxy. It’s probably more accurate to say there are an infinite amount of stars,” answers Sabine.

The six-year-old seems to take a minute to process this.

“Do people live on every star? Like you and papa did once?” asks Marinette.

“Your papa and I come from a _planet_ called Earth. We visited Grandmère there once, remember? Earth is the home world for humans,” says Sabine. “As for what you asked, no, not every star, or in this case, planet, has a sentient population... But a lot of them do.”

Marinette is again quiet after that answer. She seems to be thinking quite hard about something.

She speaks once she decides what part of her mother’s answer she finds the most interesting. “Why did you and papa leave Earth? Was it bad?”

Sabine chuckles, if a little wistfully.

“Oh, no, mon petite Coccinelle. Earth is _beautiful_ . So beautiful that when humans ran into trouble with some grumpy aliens, your papa and I decided to help protect our planet from being hurt. During that time, we discovered space is _also_ beautiful. After the- “ Sabine cuts herself off.

She pauses for a moment to think of a more child-friendly way to talk about the end of a war.  She and Tom are well practiced talking themselves around this topic to their child by now.

“Once we finished protecting Earth, Papa and I agreed to keep travelling the stars so we could see as many beautiful things as we could,” she explains.

Humanity’s first experience with an alien race was a topic that Sabine and her husband generally tried to keep their daughter from knowing while she was still so young. The events of the First Contact War shaped not only Sabine and Tom’s entire lives, but also how many humans perceived different races. Too many Alliance personnel were still prejudiced against certain alien species. The couple hoped to keep this from Marinette until she was old enough to understand and comprehend the series of events and decisions that led up to the war. It was a political mess, and neither side was truly in the wrong. They would rather their daughter form her own opinions of others as individuals, free from the stigmas and hate that still surrounded many that served in the Alliance.

Sabine is broken from her musing by the movement of her daughter as she leans forward, reaching out once again to touch the stars.

“I’m going to visit all of them, one day!” pronounces Marinette.

“When I’m big, I’m going to fly my own ship and I’ll have a big crew and some of them will even be Asari! I’ll also have Quarians, Salarians, and Krogans. I’m going to make friends with all the people who live on the stars.”

“Oh? And what about Turians?” asks Sabine, amused.

Marinette finally breaks her gaze away from the starry display to level her mother with the most determined look to ever cross a six-year-old’s face.

“I’m going to be best friends with a Turian! And we’re going to fly with our crew and save Earth and all of the other stars from the bad things that want to hurt them.”

Sabine feels tears suddenly threaten to escape her eyes as her daughter reveals her desires for her future.

Truly, her dream is a romantic one: the alien races in their galaxy all have their own histories with one another. Most, in conflict. Humanity is a newcomer to the galactic tableau, still making a name for itself outside the shadow of the war with Turians. Yet she has no doubt that one day, her daughter’s words would become prophecy, and that prophecy would be fulfilled.

In that moment, Sabine sees her daughter. Not as she is now; older, stronger. A leader. She surrounds herself with the different species of the galaxy, pushing them all to do their best. In return they support and respect her decisions, feuding peoples uniting under Marinette’s command. And behind her is a tall, dark figure. Much taller than most humans, and significantly more dangerous.

But Sabine does not worry.

Marinette’s shadow would never hurt her.

The Marinette of the present is unaware of her mother’s sudden insight, and continues to excitedly talk about her adventures in space with her alien crew.

She says she cannot wait to grow up, and a small part of her mother agrees with her.

**Author's Note:**

> This is an AU that's been bouncing around in my head for a while since my dumb artist brain thought "Hey, wouldn't Chat Noir look like a cool Turian?" Drawing said Chat-Turian appeased me for a little while, but I kept thinking of a whole universe around this one character. Eventually it got to the point where I was drawing character parallels between the two shows as I played my gazillionth Paragon Fem-Shep. My friend wanted me to write this fic to help put my headcannons and thoughts in one place and so here we are. 
> 
> Check out the doodles here! https://exforest.tumblr.com/post/173845302871/just-some-doodles-of-a-weird-mass-effectladybug
> 
> Simply put: Marinette is Commander Shepard, and Adrien is her Garrus Vakarian. Yes, there will be romance, but no, it probably won't evolve the same way it does in the games. There will be similarities, of course, as the romance in the games touches on some interesting human/turian points. 
> 
> I apologise for the long beginning and end notes, I'm a bit out of practice. Hopefully from now on they'll be a bit more succinct. My update schedule will be a bit sporadic, as I'm a uni student currently taking f i v e subjects ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ my apologies in advance.


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